Mixed Brno race for Ducati Team

The bwin Grand Prix České republiky was a mixed affair for the Ducati team as Andrea Dovizioso reduced the gap to the podium, but Cal Crutchlow retired after an early crash.

Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso charged from second on the grid to battle with fellow Ducati rider, Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing), for the opening lap. Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) eventually passed the Ducati pair as their softer tyres faded.

A thrilling battle for fifth emerged between the two, Iannone finishing just 0.2s ahead of Dovizioso as the factory rider achieved his aim of reducing the gap to the podium. Indianapolis saw a difference of over 20 seconds between Dovizioso and the race winner, Brno a gap of under 18 seconds.

It was another tough race for Cal Crutchlow who suffered an early crash. The English rider remounted but was forced to retire on the eighth lap, as the damage was too much. Crutchlow was up in 11th prior to his crash. The MotoGP paddock heads to Silverstone for Round 12 where Crutchlow will be eager to improve his fortunes in front of the home crowd.

“We have to be satisfied with the race today because we again reduced our gap from the guys at the front. Both Iannone and myself could maybe have lapped even quicker, but we never pushed 100% for the whole race because we were too far from the leading group and there was no one behind who could threaten our position,” said the Italian.

He continued, “Unfortunately I was not able to fight with Iannone in the last few laps because my engine had a bit of a drop in performance during the race and as a result I was unable to stay in his slipstream.”

“It was obviously a disappointing race to go out on lap 2. I made a mistake in the braking in turn 3, had to avoid Aleix Espargaro in front of me and swerved off the track. I was disappointed for that because I was quite confident we could have had a not-so-bad battle today. But when I reentered the track I had a sore shoulder from going through the gravel and holding onto the bike before it tipped over so there was no point carrying on with the pain and I preferred to save myself for Silverstone,” said Crutchlow.